San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1887-02-28
A PHANTOM BRIDE.
BY the Author of 1.-THE Ice CAR
NIVAL."

scarcely nacTc!-and Wnen I've SureCcneu
my legs on terra trina | shall be able to
hazard suspicion of where we may
happen to be-"
Dicks iniunctiOns were obeyed, but
investigation only served to prove the
hopelessness of the situation; for days
past, even in town, the snow had Laid"
and since noon to-day it had been fall
ing heavily-ergo, the country roads had
been converted into one trackless plain
of untrodden snow, with here and there
stunted leafless tree, a buried hedge
row, or the topmast bars of wayside
gate, to diversity the prospect. White,
spotless white as far as the eye could
reach-aye! and how much farther? for
the snow was beating steadily earth
wards still, in slanting sheet which as
effectually obscured the heavens above
as the surrounding world.
Are we across the common?" ques-
toned Dick with genuine anxiety.
AYE, that we just are, sir, so far as
/ make out; but I've lost my reckon
ing, Use free to confess, although as
man and boy I've knowed Barnes Com
mon an round about for a matter o.
twinty year,"
"What fool 1 was to go to sleep"
soliloquized Dick in an undertone;
land you trust to"
''Sleep or no Sleep" interrupted cab
by Indignantly, II suppose you've no
better eyes i your head than any other
man, ehp an We can see devilish little
further i tn dark than tn best amang
us. An whin snaw's drivin' like
shower o. live frogs your face, a-whist-
lin i yer eyes, an numbin' O. tn
nape o. your neck, its uncommon hard,
can tell yer, t. distinguish white from
black. or right from left for that mat
ter, when it's all straight fiat sailin'
like. Talk o. Fleet-street blocks, or
Mansion House crowds O. Lord Mayors
day; give me dangers O. that sort to
grapple VII, say /, an keep yer country
roads an Chrissermas snow-stOrms fur
SIGH as fancies thim-an' that's not
mel"
But Dick, having already arrived at
the conclusion that no amount of vitu-
peration directed either against the ele-
ments, himself, fate, or the cabman,
would assist them in this emergency,
wisely refTained from being drawn into
argument even on so wide a subject as
the comparative merits of City block
versus wayside desolation. He con-
tented himself by trying to discover
their present longitude and latitude by
somewhat obstruse calculation as to
how long time had elapsed since they
had passed the Blue Boar, from the
portals of which excellent hostelry cab
by declared stream Of warmth and ra-
dance had issued, which had made an
indelible impression upon his mind.
Finally, having convinced the cab
man that they could not be more than
half mile distant from the confines of
Purnhann ninly tao1naaI hic rNlono in
side, lighted cigar, wrapped the rugs
more closely round him, and, directing
cabby to bear well towards the right,
resigned himself to circumstances-not
without serious misgivings, however,
for the evening was already dark as
midnight, and whilst the snow contin-
ued to descend in this pitiless fashion,
it was only by chance they could even
hope to stumble along in the right di-
rection.
Presently, however, the wretched
horse was urged forward at a trOt, and
Dick could hear the unhappy driver al
ternately coaxing and matchmaking
the poor beast, his "lucky stars"
'Chrissermusses" in general, ''an' this
Chrissermus' Eve o. all good an bad
ewes o. which he'd ever CHANGED to hear
tell" and, indeed, the young man
could not wonder, his own plight
seemed comfortless enough, but the
condition of the man outside, he re-
Elected, must be pitiable in the extreme.
Dick had just arrived at the conclusion
that he must have been worse than
mad to have undertaken the journey
knowing the country was under snow,
when suddenly jolt, lunge, an indie
scribable shock, and behold! the vehicle
landed on its side, the poor horse down,
shafts, and buried up to the girths in
a snOw-dTift; Dick himself unhurt, only
somewhat stunned by the shock Of the
disaster. and bruised about the shoul-